USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 42
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1In 1672 the proprietors of Nantucket entered into an agreement with one James Lopar "to carry on a design of whale Citching." (Nantucket Records, Vol. I.)
2Edgartown Records, I, 149. William Weeks and Thomas Daggett had been chosen whale "cutters" the previous year.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
"drift" whales was sufficient to cause them to be reckoned a part of the common rights of the proprietors of the soil, and rules and regulations were adopted for their division. In 1658, when the elder Mayhew bought Chickemmoo, the Sachem sold with the land "four spans round in the middle of every whale that comes upon the shore of this quarter part and no more."1 This claim of the Indian chiefs to the rights of flotsam and jetsam upon the shores of their domains was simi- lar to the sovereign rights obtaining in civilized countries, and was admitted by Mayhew upon the Vineyard. When land was thus bought from them these "privileges" were par- ticularly enumerated, and in turn when the land passed to another the "rights of fish and whale" were always included. When a new proprietor was admitted, likewise, he was granted a share of fish and whale, and such rights or "accommodations" were mentioned as late as 1676, when the lands and inheritances of a proprietor were recorded. This right was the frequent subject of litigation among the settlers and Indians. In 1679, William Vinson complained against Job and Nataquanum alias Prisilla "for detaining an yard and half square of a whale belonging to the said Vinson. The jurie find for the plaintiff the full worth of one yard and a half of Blober and cost of sute and twelve pence damage."2
The inventories of some of our early settlers give evidence of the utilization of the whale for domestic purposes. Richard Arey's estate, in 1669, showed "Half a Barrell of Oyl" and doubtless the "great Kittells" belonging to John Bland, and the large "Iron Pot," listed in the inventory of John Gee, a fisherman, of the same date, were for trying out the blubber of whales.3 It will thus be seen that the Vineyard was among the first of the colonies to make use of the whale as a com- mercial industry. As late as 1690 the people of Nantucket were in the infancy of the art, of which later they became masters. In that year, finding that the people of Cape Cod had made greater proficiency in the art of whale catching than themselves, they sent thither and employed Ichabod Paddock to instruct them in the best manner of killing whales and ex-
1Dukes Deeds, I, 355.
2Dukes Court Co. Court Records, Vol. I. In 1662 the town of Eastham voted that a part of every whale cast ashore should be appropriated for the support of the ministry. The early records of this island contain references to drift whales coming ashore in 1672 and 1685. (Deeds, V, 246-8.)
3Edgartown Records, I, 40, 41, 50.
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Whale Fisheries
tracting their oil.1 The latter was the principal material in the whale which they sought at first. The process called "saving" the whales after they had been killed and towed ashore, was to use a "crab," an implement similar to a cap- stain, to heave and turn the blubber off as fast as it was cut. The blubber was then put into carts and carried to try-houses, which in the early days were placed near their dwelling houses, where the oil was boiled and fitted for home or commercial use. There was a try house at the swimming place before 1748, the location of the Butler homestead, the significance of which will be referred to later on.2 As the whales became less tame, through the growth of the business of hunting them, the Vineyarders had to go further out into the sea for them, but this did not take place for many years. Lookouts were erected on the shore to locate their game, a tall tree being utilized or a stout spar set up, with cleats affixed, and a seat devised from which the welcome shout, "There she blows!" could be heard by the waiting crews. As an instance of the extent of the yield in early times it is stated that in 1726 there were eighty-six whales captured, the greatest number on record, while one day's "bag" amounted to eleven.3 These whales were known as the "Right" whale, whose scientific name is Balaena Mysticetus, the whale with the bone, now so valuable. The Spermaceti whale, or Physeter Macrocephalus, was not found for many years until they had penetrated more southern waters.4
THE FIRST KNOWN VINEYARD WHALERS.
The distinction of being the first whaler on the Vineyard cannot be awarded with certainty, before 1700, but there is on record, immediately thereafter, an account which gives us the first name of a whale fisherman among our inhabitants. The entry is as follows: -
Martha's Vineyard 1702-3 The marks of the whales killed by John Butler and Thomas Lothrop - one whale lanced near or over the shoulder blade, near the left shoulder blade only; - Another killed woth an iron for ward in the left side marks SS; and upon the right side marked with a pocket knife T. L .; - And the other an iron hole over the right shoulder
2Macy, "History of Nantucket," 42.
2Dukes Deeds, VIII, 153. There was also one at Homes Hole quite early.
3Macy, "History of Nantucket," 44.
"The first spermaceti whale came ashore at Nantucket about 1712. (Ibid., 48.)
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History of Martha's Vineyard
blade, with two lance holes in the same side, one in the belly. These whales wer all killed about the middle of February last past, all great whales between six and seven and eight foot bone, which are all gone from us. A true account given by John Butler from us and recorded.1
This places John3 Butler (1650-1738), as our first known native whaler on record, with Thomas Lothrop, husband of Richard Sarson's daughter, as his mate, and doubtless the "tryhouse" above referred to was once his property. That Butler had been engaged in this occupation for some time, and was an expert is amply evidenced by the number of his catches enumerated in one month, and we may conclude that it had been his business for a considerable time before 1700 even.
In this industry the settlers brought to their assistance the superior knowledge of the Indians of the habits of these fish, and every boat's crew had in it a goodly proportion of natives to guide and manage their boats when the struggle was on. Because of this, the settlers were enabled to fit out a greater number of boats than they could have otherwise done.2 The most active Indians were selected as steersmen, and some were even allowed to head the boats. In time they became experienced- whalemen, capable of conducting any part of the business. This situation developed, particularly when the Vineyarders began to go out farther for their prey, "deep" whaling as distinguished from "shore" whaling, in small sloops and schooners of twenty to thirty tons, involving ab- sences of several weeks. About this time we begin to find the trade of "cooper" attached to the names of residents in documents, a necessary adjunct to the prosecution of the busi- ness of whaling, as hogsheads and barrels were required to contain the oil prepared for the market. This outlet was found in Boston, of course, as the great commercial centre of New England at that period. Increased results, growing trade, and larger profits demanded further facilities, and the whalers were encouraged to increase the size of their vessels, and to make longer voyages and seek more distant seas in pursuit of both the "right" and spermaceti whales. Meanwhile the oc- casional stranded monster would afford the inhabitants an easy prey, and often a law suit. In Pain Mayhew's "Common-
1Edgartown Records, I, 107.
2In 1715 there were six vessels engaged in whaling from Nantucket, which pro- duced {1100 sterling, or about $20,000 of our money value.
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Whale Fisheries
place Book," about 1720, is found an "account of the Kings whale," which was one drifted ashore, and so belonging of right to the king, by ancient law.
The court records of 1724 contain the proceedings in a suit begun by Pain Mayhew, Jr., against Jabez Lumbert of Barnstable, whale fisherman, concerning an agreement made that year as to a joint whaling trip in Barnstable Bay, between Cape Cod and Boston, which was referred to as "a great voyage." In 1725, Samuel Merry, John Tilton, and four others took a whale near Noman's Land, making twenty-six barrels of oil, which brought them to court for a settlement two years later. The Vineyard being an island which could support agricultural industries as well, did not depend upon whaling and the fisheries solely, as its chief occupation, as Nantucket was obliged to do, but in the proportion as its sons undertook the calling, they stood in the foremost group of men who carried its name into distant seas. And it now seems remarkable to what limits they went in their little vessels of small tonnage. From Greenland to the Guinea coast they were to be seen in the first half of the 18th century keenly scenting the haunts of those monsters of the deep, far from the hospitable shores of men of their race. The following schedule will show, as nearly as can be ascertained, the times when the whale fishery commenced at the places named below, prior to the Revolution:
Davis Straits (Greenland), I746 Coast of Guinea, Barbadoes, 1763
Baffin's Bay
1751 Western Islands, 1765
Gulf of St Lawrence
1761 Brazil,1 1774
One of the successful whalers of the middle of that century was Captain Peter5 Pease of Edgartown, born in 1732, and a sailor from his boyhood. He was one of the dauntless mari- ners of his day, and from his account books we gather the details of some of his voyages made in the frozen waters of the North or the tropical regions near the equator, in search of the rich products of the deep. We first hear of him in 1762, at the age of thirty, as master of the sloop Susanna, on a voy- age to the capes of Virginia, from whence he took his cargo
1Macy, "History of Nantucket," 65. The business was also carried on in shorter voyages to the Grand Banks, Cape de Verde Islands, Gulf of Mexico, Carribean Sea, and the Spanish Main. Sometimes these voyages were made in brigs, but until the Revolution the American whaler was seldom larger than one hundred tons. Some of them carried three or four boats and a crew of thirty men.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
to Boston.1 The next year he made a voyage to the West Indies, and the following entry in his books is worth transcrib- ing: -
Nov. 27, 1763. Sloop Susanna, Peter Pease, from Martha's Vine- yard to Barbadoes. Arrived Dec. 23. Had a shot from the fort for not dousing our foresail at the sight of the King's colors. Next morning went to the Captain of the fort to make restitution for the shot, and to pay the anchor money, and settled all. Took a walk in the town at ten saw a man put in the pillory for robbing and cheating.
The supplies taken by him for this voyage of six months' duration in the sourthen latitudes is shown in the following list entered on his books: -
ACCOUNT OF STORES
For Sloop Susannah, Capt. Peter Pease, from Martha's Vineyard to the West Indies, whaling, Nov. 1763.
7 Barrels Beef, 3 files,
4 Pork, 66
Tea pot, I
3 Flour,
I coffee pot,
I Molasses,
5 Bushel Salt,
I Rum,
I Crow bar,
¿ firkin Butter,
3 Compasses,
130 feet pin boards,
I pitch fork,
30 Irons,
I inch auger,
I Spade,
4 Bushels Beans,
I side good leather,
3
Meal,
2 good pots,
4 Turnips,
I2 Codfish hooks,
2 Potatoes
I pr. Canthooks,
2
Salt,
3 padlocks,
I6
Corn,
I Iron ladle,
12 Lances,
I Iron shod shovel,
120 fathoms cordage,
1100 lbs. Bread
56 Sugar,
I pewter basin,
4
66 Chocolate,
16 Runner hooks,
2
Tea,
I Barrel Tar,
50
Cheese,
I Tea kettel,
56
66 Rice,
I Scraper,
I4 Candles.
2He is the person referred to in the following journal of the Betsey of Dartmouth, fishing on the Grand Banks: --
"(1761) August 6th. Spoke with two Nantucket men; they had got one whale between them, they told us that Jenkins & Dunham had got four whales between them, and Allen & Pease had got 2 whales between them Lat 42 57." (Ricketson, History of New Bedford, 62.)
The names of Jenkins, Dunham, Allen, and Pease are all Vineyard families, but we have no sure means of identifying them, though probably Peter Pease is in- tended, and perhaps Joseph Jenkins of Edgartown and Shubael Dunham of Tisbury, both of whom were sea-faring men.
436
66
250 copper nails,
I Pepper,
I hatch bar,
Whale Fisheries
Further entries in his books show voyages made each year succeeding.
When spring returns with western gales, And gentle breezes sweep
The ruffling seas, we spread our sails, To plough the wat'ry deep.
Thus an old whaling song tells of the annual call to the bosom of old Ocean felt by those hardy mariners. Further quotations show his work: -
July 15, 1764. Sloop Susanna, Peter Pease, for Grand Banks in company with Capt. Josep Pease.
Aug. 14. Spoke Capt. Joseph Huxford, whaling. Arrived Oct. 10, 1764.
May 13, 1765. Schooner Lydia, Peter Pease, of Martha's Vineyard. Returned Sept. 30, 1765. Nantucket & Grand Banks. Same vessel & same destination left Edgartown.
This last was a voyage to Greenland, and the stores shipped for a northern trip, as shown by his accounts, stand as a contrast to the previous list, especially in an increase of the quantity of rum, and justify another quotation from the old whaling song above referred to, written by John Osborne of Sandwich (born 1713), and probably the oldest ballad on the subject :---
For killing northern whales prepared Our nimble boats on board With craft and rum, (our chief regard), And good provisions stored.
DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
The Revolutionary war gave almost a finishing stroke to the business of whaling in America. When the war began there were in the whole American fleet of whalers between three and four hundred vessels of an aggregate of about 33,000 tons, manned by about five thousand seamen. Of these per- haps a quarter belonged to Nantucket and the Vineyard, of course the greater part credited to the former island. For ten years preceding the war the number of vessels in this region, with the quantity of oil obtained, is shown in the fol- lowing table: --
Date
Vessels
Barrels
Date
Vessels
Barrels
1763
60
9,238
1768
125
15,439
1764
72
11,983
1769
II9
19,140
1765
IOI
11,512
1770
125
14,33I
1766
II8
11,969
I771
II5
12,754
1767
108
16,561
I772
98
7,825
437
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History of Martha's Vineyard
At this time the industry was in its infancy in New Bed- ford, the first merchant to engage in it there being Joseph Russell, about 1760, while our island and Nantucket had had almost a century's experience before that date.
The following extract from a table, a part of a report made to Congress, by Thomas Jefferson, shows the actual state of the whale fisheries on the Vineyard, between the years 1771 and 1775 :-
Vessels fitted annually for the Northern catch I2
Tonnage of same 720
Number of seamen employed
166
Barrels of spermaceti oil taken annually 900
Barrels of whale oil taken annually
300
From this account it will be seen that the vessels averaged sixty tons each for the Arctic voyages, manned by an average crew of thirteen. This table does not seem to include those engaged in the industry in southern latitudes. The report makes the following comments on the values of the oil and bone at that period. -
The average price in the market, for a few years previous to the war was about forty pounds sterling per ton, for spermaceti oil; and fifty pounds sterling for head matter. The average price of whale was about seventy dollars per ton. A whale producing about one hundred and twenty barrels of oil will generally produce about two thousand pounds of bone. A whale producing fifty or sixty barrels of oil, will generally produce nearly ten pounds of bone to the barrel. The bone was chiefly exported to Great Britain, the price about half a dollar per pound.
Computing the capacity of a barrel at fifty gallons, and the weight at 350 pounds per barrel, we can arrive at an equivalent of 140 tons of spermaceti oil at £40 per ton, making a total value of £6400 for this product annually for the Vine- yard. The bone can be eliminated from the reckoning. This sum was equivalent to $32,000 at that time, which, in considera- tion of the relative values of money, then and now, and esti- mating it at three to one, we may conclude that the yearly value of the whale fisheries to the Vineyard, at the outbreak of the Revolution, was about $150,000. This was the pros- perous period of the industry, both for our island and Nan- tucket, and such a lucrative business in the aggregate had ex- cited the jealousy of England from the time of its growth into importance, commercially considered, as well as from its national value as a nursery of American seamen.
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Whale Fisheries
The policy of England to cripple this valuable industry and transfer its headquarters to her ports was evident during the war of 1776. John Adams wrote in 1779: "whenever an English man-of-war or privateer has taken an American vessel, they have given to the whalemen among the crew, by order of government, their choice either to go on board of a man-of-war and fight against their country or go into the whale fishery." As a result of this policy, he declared that he knew of seventeen
WHALERS AT EDGARTOWN WHARF
DURING THE "FORTIES."
vessels then engaged in the whaling business, off the coast of Brazil, of which "all the officers and men are Americans."1 After the Revolution both England and France made deter- mined efforts to transplant the business to their shores, and by the offer of alluring subsidies secured the services of some who had been ruined by the war, or whose knowledge was always for sale to the best market. William Rotch trans- ferred his business thither for a while, but later returned to
1The freeholders of Tisbury, on Feb. 1, 1781, voted "to make application to the General Court for Liberty to Whale Provided those so Disposed be at the whole cost of same." (Town Records, 238.)
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History of Martha's Vineyard
the familiar scenes of his earlier life in New Bedford. Some went to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, some to Milford Haven, Eng- land, but like all islanders, they soon returned to their ocean- bound home where they found greater rewards awaiting them in the development of their calling under congenial skies, and beneath their own flag.
As the business grew and larger vessels came into use, the shallow harbor of Nantucket would not accommodate their deeper draft, and it became necessary to seek better water. Consequently some fitted out at Edgartown, while others found a home port at New Bedford, which soon became almost as famous in the annals of whaling as Nantucket itself. But the assurance of safety and success did not come with the close of the Revolution, for the wars of France and England followed soon after, and the disastrous events preceding our second war with great Britain, 1812-15, put heavier burdens on the whaling industry than ever before. This is described in detail under the chapter dealing with that period, and need not be repeated here, as the whaling fleets suffered with all our maritime industries on the high seas, until the close of the war, when the English government was whipped into ac- knowledgment of our place in the conquest of the ocean as the highway of unrestricted commerce.
EMPLOYMENT OF INDIANS.
Reference has been made to the employment of the natives of the island in this industry. A writer, who visited the Vine- yard one hundred years ago, thus narrates the conditions sur- rounding this employment: -
Ship owners come to their cottages, making them offers and persuad- ing them to accept them; and so rarely is Gay Head visited for any other purpose, that this was supposed at the light house to be my errand. This business of inviting the Indians is a sort of crimping, in which liquor, goods and fair words are plied, till the Indian gets into debt, and gives his consent. Taking the history from the mouths of the white people only, it appears that there is often much to be complained of in the busi- ness of the voyage, both in the Indian and in those with whom he connects himself. On the one hand great advantage is taken of his folly, his cre- dulity and his ignorance. On the other, he torments the ship or share owner with his indecision and demands, till the moment of the sailing of the ship. First, he agrees to go, and accordingly receives some stipu- lated part of his outfit; then he "thinks he won't go;" and then he is to be coaxed and made drunk. Again he "thinks" he "won't go" unless
440
Whale Fisheries
such and such articles are supplied; and these articles he often names at random for the sake of inducing a refusal. One Indian was mentioned to me that he thought he would not go unless five pounds of soap were given him; and another that thought the same unless he received seven hats. The Indians find these voyages as little to their ultimate benefit as they are found by those I have lately mentioned; and their obstinate addiction to spirituous liquors makes their case still worse. Hence an Indian that goes to sea is ruined and his family is ruined with him.1
The French traveller, Crevecoeur, who visited our island during the Revolutionary period, refers to the employment of the natives of the Vineyard in the whale fishery. "They often go, like the young men of the Vineyard," he says, "to Nan- tucket and hire themselves for whalemen or fishermen; and indeed their skill and dexterity in all sea affairs is nothing in- feriour to that of the whites."? This also was undoubtedly true, and between these observations of well known writers the just estimate may be formed. Certain it is that up to the most recent times, scarcely a vessel sent out under the auspices of Vineyardmen to the Arctic, but what contained in her crew some hardy descendant of the Nope branch of the Algonquian race. The whale fishery as an occupation engaged the ac- tivities of the oldest and best families among our people from its inception, not only in the capacity of financing the under- takings, but in the actual work itself. Side by side with these natives in the boats went the flower of Vineyard youth. The following scrap of commercial paper, of the date of 1790, gives evidence to this effect, the writer being the leading political and military person on the island in his generation : -
Edgartown June 1, 1790.
Sir:
Pleas to pay to Mr. Timothy Coffin the whole amount of my son Frederick's Voyage that he may obtain with you this Present Season in the Sloop Free Mason & his receipt Shall be your full Discharge for the same
& oblige your Friend & Hum. Sevt.
CAPT. JOSEPH PEAS.
BERIAH NORTON.
This serves also to show the way in which the business was conducted. It was the first of the co-operative methods of work where a number of men engaged to share the proceeds upon certain percentages, according to their duties and re-
1Kendall, " Travels," II, 196. This was in 1806.
2Lettres d'un cultivateur Americain, 159.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
sponsibilities. Each man was engaged for a "lay" or share, which is well illustrated in the accounts of the voyage of the ship Lion, in 1807. The vessel secured oil valued at $37,661, of which one-eighteenth, or $2,072 went to the captain, as his share, in lieu of regular pay; one twenty-seventh or $1,381 to the first mate; one thirty-seventh or $1,008 to the second mate; one forty-eighth to each of two leading men in the crew; and one seventy-fifth to each of the other white able seamen. The color line was drawn in those days, also, for the men of dusky skin did not receive more than one-eightieth or one ninetieth as their share. This custom of sharing obtains to this day in the small remainder of the once numerous force engaged in the great industry which now braves the winters of the Arctic, for the still profitable returns to the lucky vessel.1 The bal- ance, after expenses were paid, went of course to the owners of the vessels, and in the instance cited above, the profit to them, after paying shares and expenses, was $24,252 on that trip, or about two-thirds of the gross proceeds.
EXTENSION TO THE PACIFIC.
Whaling in the Pacific ocean dates from 1791, when the Washington, Captain George Bunker, first displayed the grid- iron ensign in the harbor of Callao, Peru, and became the pioneer of the numberless craft which made that port a common rendezvous for Yankee whalers in after years. This region was sought for the sperm whale in the south seas, where among the thousand reefs and islets of that archipelago, the little venturesome craft of Nantucket and the Vineyard braved the dangers of unknown shoals and known cannibals on inhos- pitable shores.2 These craft scarcely exceeded two hundred and fifty tons burthen, and the voyages lasted for eighteen to twenty-four months. War vessels of European nations, bound on what they thought were voyages of discovery, would find some enterprising whaler or sealer from these two isles of the Atlantic, calmly riding at anchor in the lea of a coral atoll which they were about to claim for their sovereigns by right of first discovery. And upon questioning these absurd little apple-bowed craft, the crestfallen commanders would learn that this was merely a safe harbor which they had long fre- quented for repairs, after still further voyages to the remoter
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